GW2 Flame and Frost: The Razing Patch notes

Patch notes for GW2’s Flame and Frost: The Razing March 26 patch notes.

Build 3/26/13 March Content Update Release Notes

LIVING STORY

Flame and Frost: The Razing

A hybrid army erupts through fiery portals in the Shiverpeaks. This “Molten Alliance” between dredge and Flame Legion has created an enemy powerful enough to massacre any who stand in their way. One ranch, one homestead at a time, they’re wiping out all resistance. The razing has begun. In Flame and Frost: The Razing, the third installment in this four-part series, we meet Braham and Rox, two fervent Tyrians who believe in doing what’s right, even if it means putting themselves in danger. They’re defending the people and places they love, and they’ll need your help.

Open World

The Molten Alliance has begun spying on the people of Wayfarer Foothills, Diessa Plateau, the Snowden Drifts, the Plains of Ashford, and the Iron Marches. The Vigil have stationed collectors in these areas to reward adventurers who return logs of all data collected by the enemy.

Rumor has it that an Order of Whispers operative has been openly seeking assistance in the Black Citadel. As always, details are classified until disclosed.

The Molten Alliance has been arming units with what looks like a fused technology—the molten heat of the Flame Legion combined with the iron-forged brutality of the dredge. Adventurers are advised to stay wary when traversing near the Shiverpeak Mountains.

Those brave enough to survive against the Molten Alliance have reported seeing charr and dredge utilizing strange and new combinations of technology and magic.

More refugees located in all known camps have begun opening up about their experiences.

A Durmand Priory scholar named Aiti and her archival golem LOR-748 have moved into Lion’s Arch at the Durmand Dig Site to answer all queries regarding the Flame Legion and dredge.

The Consortium has begun construction of their refugee aid project in Southsun Cove.

The Molten Alliance’s loot tables have been updated to better reflect their shared resources.

One new area and one new point of interest have been added to Wayfarer Foothills. Another new point of interest has been added to Diessa Plateau. Players who have previously finished map completion and the Shiverpeak Explorer achievement will not need to discover these new locations in order to maintain map completion. Players who have not reached map completion in Wayfarer Foothills or Diessa Plateau, or who have not finished the Shiverpeak Explorer achievement, will need to discover these new locations.

Instances

Living Story instances telling the stories of both Braham the norn and Rox the charr have been added to the world. In-game mails and achievements have been implemented in order to aid guidance to the relevant locations. These instance locations are marked on the world map with a golden portal marker.

After completion, Living Story instances can be experienced again by speaking with the Replay NPCs stationed inside each completed instance location. In the case of Rox and Braham’s combat instances, repeatable rewards can be earned once a day per account.

Achievements

The Secret Contact achievement has been added to the Living Story achievement category.

The achievements for Braham: Help from the Legions, Braham – Eirsson, Braham – Retake Cragstead, Rox: Critical Mission, Rox – The Hatchery, and Hero’s Aid have been added to the Living Story achievement category in order to track progress in Living Story instances.

Initially, the leaderboards will feature WvW rankings, PvP player rankings, and total achievement points—something for all player types in GW2.

As of March 26th, your existing scores will silently be posted to the leaderboards while we watch for the top leaders to stabilize. These scores will take into account some of your past accomplishments/rating.

Once stable, we will display the leaderboards for players. We currently don’t have an exact date for leaderboard public release.

World vs. World

We are happy to announce the addition of World Ranks. When you participate in World vs. World events and defeat enemy players, you will earn World Experience (WXP). When you earn enough WXP, you’ll unlock World Ranks. Every World Rank earned will come with a World Ability Point, and some ranks can even give you a new World Title. World Ability points can be spent on unique World vs. World abilities. Click here for more information on World Ranks.

Server-side culling has been removed from World vs. World. For more on the culling removal, read the blog post here.

Juvenile Pink Moas found in Brisban Wildlands can now be tamed appropriately.

Fixed a stalling bug that prevented some players from completing the Keg Brawl Kegmaster achievement.

Cursed Shore: Changed the objective for the giant fight at the beginning of the Promenade assault.

Angvar’s Trove Waypoint has been added to the Snowden Drifts.

Iron Marches: Fixed an issue where players would sometimes be unable to plant emblems or evidence in Sonjaw Redclaw’s event chain.

Risen Putrifiers will no longer immobilize themselves when attempting to snare players with their anchor.

Champion Risen Drake Broodmothers should now have appropriate stats and nameplate borders.

Fixed a bug that prevented players from interacting with the pipe organs in Caledon Forest and the Fields of Ruin.

Quaggans will now breathe at a normal rate, and child quaggans will sound appropriate for their age.

The volume on the Greatsaw and the Chain Sword weapons has been increased.

Contested Lyssa statues in Orr will appropriately stun and daze enemies and should no longer apply a nonfunctional “mesmerized” condition.

Enemies in Garden of Ilya have had their levels adjusted.

Orichalcum Ore locations in Southsun Cove have been moved to locations reachable by players.

The Fire Rocket skill on Charrzooka weapons obtained from karma vendors and events has been updated to inflict burning.

General

The point amounts obtainable from existing repeatable achievements have been capped as follows: Hobby Dungeon Explorer—200 points; Agent of Entropy—250 points. This change was made to support competitive PvE leaderboards and to lay the groundwork for a reward structure for total achievement points that is coming in a future update.

Fixed a bug where Map Completion tooltips on the world map would sometimes display the wrong map.

Global: Increased scaling on several events to support up to 50 players.

Automatic camera rotation while defeated will no longer restart after the camera is moved.

Lip-flap has been enabled for all voiced lines on Players and NPCs in world.

The Special Event UI can now be clicked to open up the relevant Achievement Panel.

Added missing families to the Daily Kill Variety achievement.

Fixed a bug where a player could be removed from an instance they were exploring without a party.

Fixed a bug which allowed players to commune with places of power while downed.

Fixed an issue with water movement sounds playing either too many sounds or none at all at the surface for playable races.

Players who are alone in an instance will no longer be kicked from it when they are invited to and uninvited from a party.

Character selection will now show PvE armor, PvP armor, or town clothes as appropriate, depending on what was worn last.

Fixed a bug where equipment would get destroyed when unequipped while encumbered.

The totem offerings that can be purchased at the shrines in Wayfarer Foothills now give the same benefits as other food consumables.

The “Weapon – Axe” PvP collections tab has been updated to no longer be out of order with the “Cultural Armor – Heavy” PvP collections tab.

The PvP Commando’s Helm item has been updated to use the correct model.

The PvP Gargoyle Scythe has been updated to now have staff weapon skills.

Fixed a bug that prevented players with high amounts of Hall of Monuments points from seeing the PvP Fiery Dragon Sword skin on the Hall of Monuments vendor.

Etched Wartorches and Orrian Torches no longer use trident icons.

New ascended rings from the February build now have Mystic Forge infusion recipes available.

Disabled the use of some consumable items in dungeons.

Fixed a bug with the one-time purchases on the laurels vendor that prevented some players from being able to buy these items.

Transmuting a legendary item before equipping it will no longer prevent players from getting the achievement.

Fixed a bug that caused several Half-Eaten weapons to give an inappropriate amount of bonus attributes for their level.

Fixed a bug that prevented some weapon sigils from functioning underwater.

Fixed a bug that prevented the Skale Venom consumable from working with projectile attacks.

Changed the Commander’s Compendium to not be consumed if used by a character who is already a commander.

Updated Ash Legion and Order of Whispers spy kits to work while underwater.

Profession Skills

General

Endurance can no longer be negative.

Conditions can no longer be transferred to creatures immune to them.

Stealth: The duration of Revealed has been increased to 4 seconds when coming out of stealth via an attack.

Added evasion duration skill facts to skills.

Pets now benefit from their owner’s agony resistance.

Reduced quickness from 100% attack speed to 50%. As we push to improve balance in both PvE and PvP, a few mechanics in the game will be receiving updates to promote fun and balanced play. In the past, quickness has granted double the action speed normally available to players. In PvP, this speed gives most players almost no chance to react to incoming abilities and allows for massive spike damage in extremely short periods of time. In PvE, the increased attack speed can trivialize a lot of content that would otherwise provide a good challenge. Therefore, we are reducing the speed that quickness allows by half of its current potential while slightly increasing the duration on player-activated skills.

Elementalist

Arc Lightning skill: Now strikes enemies that it passes through.

Conjured weapons:

Now stop autoattacks and cannot be autocast.

Now properly appear in the player’s hands upon casting.

Signet of Air skill: Updated the passive buff’s description to appropriately indicate the movement speed granted.

Elementalists can no longer use the Mist Form skill to instantly rally if they go down exactly at the end of the Tornado skill.

Changing attunements no longer causes players to start autoattacking.

The Sunspot, Electric Discharge, and Earthen Blast traits no longer trigger when changing attunements while out of combat.

Evasive Arcana trait: Plays an effect if the elementalist dodges while in water attunement.

Engineer

Packaged Stimulants trait:

No longer increases the recharge time on the Drop Bandages skill.

No longer reduces the recharge time on the Drop Stimulant skill.

No longer applies incorrect fury and swiftness durations to the Drop Stimulant skill.

No longer prevents acquisition of the Drop Stimulant pick-up while the player is under the effect of swiftness or fury.

Rifled Barrels trait:

No longer applies incorrect bleed and weakness durations to the Tranquilizer Dart skill.

The Kick skill now lunges towards the target slightly, extending the range.

Players can now use the Throw Boulder skill while moving.

Banner of Defense skill: Increased toughness and vitality granted to allies from 90 at level 80 to 170.

Banner of Discipline skill: Increased precision granted to allies from 90 at level 80 to 170.

Banner of Strength skill: Increased power and condition damage granted to allies from 90 at level 80 to 170.

Banner of Tactics skill: Increased healing granted to allies from 90 at level 80 to 170.

Bladetrail skill: Can no longer be fired at enemies behind the player.

Frenzy skill: The duration of quickness and its debuffs are now 5 seconds and 6.25 seconds when the player is affected by the Sure-Footed trait.

Racial Skills

Charr: The Charrzooka elite skill no longer consumes ammunition when the player uses healing and utility skills.

Norn: Players in raven form are no longer prevented from using skills after using Wind Blast.

Structured Player vs. Player

Disconnecting from the game removes you from your roster before a match has started.

Rosters that lose their submit status opens the roster UI.

Scoreboard refreshes when players join, leave, or change teams.

Disconnecting gives kill credit to opponents.

Daily and monthly laurels can be obtained through either PvP or PvE achievements. You cannot earn additional laurels from doing both, players can simply chose to do one or the other. They will still receive all other normal daily/monthly rewards should they chose to do both PvE and PvP achievements.

Party members now show on the map while in the Heart of the Mists.

Spirit Watch:

Personal points awarded from scoring the orb have been increased from 10 to 15.

Updated the voiced line that plays whenever the orb resets.

Commune no longer interrupts itself if you interacted multiple times in a row.

Temple of the Silent Storm:

Updated the voiced lines that play whenever a meditation appears.

Commune no longer interrupts itself if you interacted multiple times in a row.

Raid on the Capricorn:

Updated the scoreboard to include a statistic for cannon hits.

Fixed the cannon to reduce camera issues that could occur while a player is operating it.

Heart of the Mists: Disabled the Wall of Champions.

World vs. World

Updated World vs. World UI screen to include a new ranking system and score breakdowns by map.

Updated Outmanned bonus to increase World XP, receive no armor damage on death, and increase experience.

Fixed areas where terrain could be exploited to gain access to World vs. World objectives by unintended means.

Aldon’s Ledge siege upgrade now successfully completes.

Ballista bonus damage to siege no longer has the chance to apply to players.

Armor and weapon vendors

Updated their positions slightly.

Updated the items and their costs for some merchants.

Sigil of Leeching no longer affects gates.

Catapult damage no longer affects rams through gates.

BLACK LION TRADING COMPANY GEM STORE

New Items and Promotions

Until April 1, 2013, it is free to transfer to all Medium population worlds! Players are still restricted to one world transfer per week, so choose wisely.

Added the Name Change Contract to the Gem Store. Each Name Change Contract can change one character’s name once. Place the Name Change Contract in the inventory of the character whose name you want to change and then double-click to activate it. Name Change Contracts are available in the Service category of the Gem Store for 800 gems each.

Added the Communal Boost Bonfire to the Gem Store. Place the Communal Boost Bonfire in the world and choose a boost to experience, karma, or magic find. Once the fire is fully stoked, anyone can interact with the bonfire to receive the chosen boost. You can increase the speed at which the fire is stoked by throwing more firewood onto it. Firewood spawns automatically when the boost type is selected. The Communal Boost Bonfire is available in the Boost category of the Gem Store for 300 gems each or 5 for 1200 gems.

Added Fused weapon skins to the Black Lion Chest. Each Black Lion Chest has a rare chance to give a Fused weapon claim ticket. Take this ticket to Evon Gnashblade in Lion’s Arch or to the Vigil Weapons Specialist at the refugee camps in Hoelbrak and the Black Citadel. Trade the ticket for one of 16 new weapon skins inspired by the fiery alliance between the dredge and Flame Legion. All Fused weapon skins are account-bound. You can preview the weapons at the Vigil Weapon Specialists even if you do not have a ticket. Open a Black Lion Chest with a Black Lion Key, available in the Consumable category of the Gem Store for 125 gems each or 5 for 450 gems.

Fused Axe

Fused Dagger

Fused Focus

Fused Greatsword

Fused Hammer

Fused Longbow

Fused Mace

Fused Pistol

Fused Rifle

Fused Scepter

Fused Shield

Fused Short Bow

Fused Staff

Fused Sword

Fused Torch

Fused Warhorn

Improvements

Replaced the Hot and Featured item sections on the front page of the Gem Store with a single item carousel that shows all featured items. To scroll the carousel right or left, click the arrows on either side. To select a specific page, click its gray dot at the bottom of the carousel.

The banner carousel on the front page of the Gem Store now has page indicators at the bottom of the banners. To select a specific banner, click its gray dot at the bottom.

Selecting an item from the featured item carousel or the banner carousel will take you to that item’s category, automatically scroll down to that item, and highlight it.

In item preview, a red exclamation point now appears on an item that your character cannot equip.

Costume Brawl now stays on players up to 5 minutes when they exit a transformation to allow them to switch transformations while brawling.

“The Molten Alliance has begun spying on the people of Wayfarer Foothills, Diessa Plateau, the Snowden Drifts, the Plains of Ashford, and the Iron Marches. The Vigil have stationed collectors in these areas to reward adventurers who return logs of all data collected by the enemy.”

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